Will Late Passes Play Role In GTLM Points Battle?

Subtitle:Notes and Quotes From Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

Will two passes for position late in the running of Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance play a role when the Prototype (P) and GT Le Mans (GTLM) championship is decided in the Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta?Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner entered the event tied for the lead in the highly competitive GTLM class. While the Porsche North American entry of Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet dominated the race, Werner managed to lead a handful of laps while Auberlen was running second in the No. 25 IHG Rewards Club BMW Z4 GTLM. That changed in the closing minutes. Auberlen lost the position to BMW Team RLL teammate John Edwards with only two laps remaining, giving the No. 24 BMW a runner-up finish. Then on the final lap, Antonio Garcia went by to knock Auberlen and Werner off the podium.That was also a position for the lead in the championship. With Garcia and co-driver Jan Magnussen of the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R tied for the lead entering the race, third place was good enough to give them a two-point lead over the No. 25 BMW drivers, 188-186.The pass also helped Edwards and Luhr, who took sole possession of third in the standings, 10 points behind Garcia and Magnussen.“Up until the end, it was a picture-perfect race for us,” Auberlen said. “We didn’t have the pace of the Porsche, but we ran a solid second. We were fine, fine, fine until about the last 15 laps, when I felt the fronts (tires) start to go. I tried to baby it, but within the last seven laps I was a sitting duck as the setup went away.”Horsepower vs. Driver Comfort? That was an easy answer for Porsche factory driver Patrick Pilet, who drove the second stint in the No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR he shared with Nick Tandy.“I did not use the fan or anything, because I needed all of the power of the car until the end of my stint,” Pilet said. “Temperature was a factor; we struggled a little bit when it got really hot at the middle of the race. However, I managed to stay in front and make no mistakes.”Pilet got out of the car following his shift, turning the car back over to Tandy – who took it home for the team’s first victory of the season.“It was a great strategy, because I think Nick was a lot fresher than [Bill] Auberlen at the end,” Pilet said. “He made no mistakes during the traffic so he opened the gap again. He had an easier life at the end.”‘Ironman’ Training Pays Off: When he’s not racing the No. 60 AERO Ligier JS P2/Honda for Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian, or driving karts around the course at Homestead-Miami Speedway with co-driver John Pew, Ozz Negri trains to compete in triathlons, grueling events combining swimming, biking and running.A trip to the top step of the podium seemed to be in the cards last weekend. Negri led two of the three practice sessions. Pew qualified sixth, and while he fell to seventh in the early going, he ran fifth through most of his 30-lap stint.Negri took over with two hours remaining, and drove to the front, leading 18 laps. Along the way, he set the TUDOR Championship race lap record, 1:10.200, shattering Olivier Pla’s year-old record by more than a second.But Ozz was experiencing problems. Not only was he losing power steering on the Ligier, he also lost his in-car hydration system. He was able to hang on to take third, but had to be lifted from the car following the race. He bounced back quickly, though, and went to the podium celebration instead of getting a ride to the medical center.“It was very, very physical, I could hardly turn the steering wheel,” Negri said. “I was pacing myself and trying to hold position toward the front. I don’t know if the DeltaWing didn’t see me or what, but I had to stop not to hit him and that’s when the (eventual race-winning) No. 10 car got by me. Had it not been for that, we would have been second today. “But from then on, I was out of steam. I couldn’t move my right arm. Thank you to Mike (Shank) who was encouraging me on the radio. When he told me I could do it, I thought to myself, 'Yes, I can do this'.  It’s a little frustrating because we would have had this race won, easily, but considering the circumstances, we’re happy to leave here with a podium finish.”Birthday Gift: Sure, Katherine Legge would have enjoyed celebrating her 35th birthday with a victory – or at least a podium finish at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.Going through a challenging season, getting to finish a race was a milestone for Legge and co-driver Memo Rojas in the No. 9 Claro/TracFone DeltaWing DWC13.“It was one of the most eventful races that I’ve done,” Legge said. “Early on, we were hit by a Porsche and that caused some damage. The crew did a great job under yellow to get us back out there. I also got hit by a couple of DP cars. “There was some bodywork damage, which made it difficult for us since we get our downforce from the undertray of the car. But the car felt good early on, we’ve made big steps forward. It was great to get a finish; the team has worked so hard!  It was a good birthday.”Rayhall Second in Return: Sean Rayhall finished 2014 with two Prototype Challenge (PC) victories, two TOTAL Pole Awards and five podium finishes – but no ride for this season when 8Star Motorsports focused its attentions elsewhere. The Georgian made his debut at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, joining John Falb for a second-place finish for BAR1 Motorsports in the No. 16 Top 1 Oil ORECA FLM09.Falb, the 2014 by Cooper Tire Prototype 2014 Lites 1 Masters Champion and current leader in the Masters points, was leading the race when he pitted at the one-hour mark. The move also allowed the team to finish with only one additional pit stop, and Rayhall was able to move into second in the closing minutes.It was the best finish of the season – and second consecutive podium finish – for the team owned by Brian Alder.“We rolled the dice leaving John Falb out there for a full one-hour stint,” Alder said. “He did a fantastic job. His stop took us off sequence, but allowed us to capitalize on Sean’s speed over the last portion of the race. Both drivers drove a fantastic race and the team executed its pit stops perfectly. It was a good day.”